RUMOR: Penguin May be the Villain of DC’s ‘Birds of Prey’, ‘The Batman’, or Both
While director Matt Reeves is taking time to figure out the story for his DC Films project The Batman – which is rumored to have the Penguin as the primary antagonist – it seems entirely possible that we might get our first look at the character in WB’s shared universe of movies with Birds of Prey, according to a new rumor.
Variety journalist and regular scoop-breaker Justin Kroll has heard whispers that not only will the Penguin come out to play in the DC Films shared universe in The Batman, but there’s a chance he might appear in Birds of Prey as a prominent antagonist:
Reeves is still working on the script, so that could always change but of the multiple BIRDS OF PREY scripts submitted, one does have the Penguin as the main heavy. Either way, it seems WB wants this character cast in the universe sooner rather then later.
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) May 30, 2018
It’s long been believed that Josh Gad will be the actor to portray the character in a live-action film for the first time since 1992, since he’s posted a handful of Penguin-related teases on his Twitter page and has made it public that he has met with DC Entertainment President Geoff Johns. Currently, Reeves is taking his time on the script for The Batman before he directs a single shot on that film, which will most likely not arrive until 2020 or 2021 at the earliest. Meanwhile, Christina Hodson’s script for Birds of Prey is ready to go with Cathy Yan in the director’s chair, so it makes sense that the latter film would be a priority. It should be noted that Hodson developed two different scripts for her project, and the Penguin is only the antagonist in one of them.
Details on Birds of Prey are currently scant, but the movie looks likely to target a 2020 release date with an ensemble of superheroines, anti-heroines, and supervillainesses set to make up the film’s central cast. Confirmed to appear is Suicide Squad‘s Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn; an actress portraying Batgirl will also be involved, with the potential to spin her off into her own standalone Batgirl film sometime after The Batman is released. (Hodson will also tackle a script for that project.) Catwoman is reportedly not involved with either version of the script that was produced.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
